The room of death (Fermat's Room ( La Habitación de Fermat ) (DVD))

Member Name: Ailran

Product:	Fermat's Room ( La Habitación de Fermat ) (DVD)
Date:	14/06/09 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Edge of your seat thrills, tense and thoughtful.

Disadvantages: Characters not that interesting, but that is a minor complaint

Cube started it off, a puzzling enigma of a movie where the main characters were trapped and had to try and figure out riddles or get caught by a deadly trap of one kind or another.
Saw took this basic premise to its extreme and managed to make a very successful franchise out of it, in fact Saw II is very very similar to the original Cube.

Fermat's Room is a Spanish film that takes the idea and drags it back to its original roots, but instead of a Cube made of Cubes, as it was in the original Cube movie here there is just one room... and four people trapped in it.

All four are famous mathematicians and are under the impression that they have been invited to a meeting to discuss mathematical theories and problems. To get an invitation they first had to solve a complex numerical puzzle so it is somewhat of an elite grouping, what they don't realise though is that someone has a grudge against one or more of them.

Once trapped in the room a PDA bleeps and there is a mathematical conundrum on it. A timer counts down and if it reaches zero before the four of them can come up with an answer then the walls of the room will start moving in (Star Wars trash compactor style).
If they can get it right in time the walls stop, giving them a respite, at least until the next problem arrives.

Fermat's Room is an engrossing, edge of your seat thriller that keeps your adrenaline flowing as the panic and fear grows in the little room. It cleverly leads you along, letting you make theory after theory about what you think you see happening to the poor mathematicians in front of your eyes.

All four of them have secrets, all have reasons for being targeted by the lunatic behind their predicament but which one is the real one the killer is after? Or is it all of them?
The one, very small, downside to the film is that the characters, all being super brainy mathematicians, are interesting but not really enough for you to really care whether they live or die. You don't want them to, you want them to get out but you don't really have a particular liking of one over another. They are all of a similar ilk and, while not unlikeable, don't really make you invest in their characters. Still that is only a very minor quibble and for thrills and adrenaline rushing scenes Fermat's Room certainly supplies more than most, even if it is in a more cerebral way than with fights and car chases.

The script is of vital importance to a film of this ilk, It has to hold up while being viewed, even if it may fall apart when thinking about it later on. It has to be complex enough to puzzle you but also be open enough to not confuse you entirely. Fermat's Room does this very ably. The slow build up and introduction of the characters, their meeting and subsequent entrapment are done with a laid back style and a real believability to it.
While there are a few things that don't hold together when mulled over later it isn't automatically noticeable whilst viewing. You are caught up in the mystery of it all too much to notice the contradictions.

With an intelligent and thoughtful script you need to add good acting and directing. The acting is good enough that you get caught up in the characters, that at times you almost feel like you are there with them, trapped and fearing for your life.

The direction is on par with the script as well. Clever angles and shots that seem to inform you but are, in fact, cleverly misdirecting you add a whole new level to the film. Not confusing you per se but leading you on a wild goose chase, like a magician showing you what he wants you to look at while he does his 'magic' with the other.
A lot of the shots make you think something has occurred by letting you make the assumption that it has from what you see, rather than by actually showing you something.

Fermat's Room is the thinking mans Saw, kind of, but unlike the more recent Saw movies that make you think because you just cannot work out all the complexities that the series now has in its mess of a story Fermat's makes you think WITH the characters.
Fermat's Room is a cracking movie, don't be put off by the fact it has subtitles as it is probably one of the best Spanish films to get released on the shores for a long, long time.

The movie is currently on release (June 2009) in some cinemas, mainly Arts ones, and should be released on DVD sometime this year.
I saw it Sept 2008 at the Cambridge Film Festival.

Summary: How to make Maths exciting